Parenting from the Heart

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What is going on in the world of Anya?

So many new things to talk about. For one, Anya has just cut her first tooth. It was all not quite as bad as we feared, really. There were a couple of rough nights and fussy days, but nothing too extreme (so far, at least). And now she has a beautiful (if slightly crooked looking) bottom tooth to boast about.

Secondly and equally if not more exciting, Anya has now achieved forward motion. How cool is that?! Okay, it is not crawling, yet, for sure, but she does scootch forward on her belly (GI Jane style). It is so fantastic to watch – sheer determination in action. She also turns 360 on her belly (like the needle on a compass) and of course she rolls and rolls and rolls… She sits without support and can turn herself around there, but in truth she is still learning how to get up and down from sitting to lying down on her own.

I was told recently that babies ‘”shouldn’t” be encouraged to sit (plopped there by their parents) until they naturally find the position and are able to get into it by themselves. I wasn’t making her sit up for my benefit (though it is cute), it seemed to me that she was often happier there, hands free, looking round and playing with toys but I do kind of see the point. Since we heard that and started lying her down more she was very quickly motivated to start reaching things in front of her (by inching forward on her belly). It is that kind of frustration that moves you to do more, reach further. It is great to see it in action with little Anya. They like to label emotions ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but I can really see how frustration is a moving force, literally – it is sooo clear at this age.

Anya can totally drink from her sippy cup, now, too. So adorable. Yes, I know, I am signing her up for Mensa next week ;)

Today we had the most fun ever playing baby hide-and-seek. It was Anya’s bed time and I was supposed to be nursing her to sleep, but daddy came in and ‘helped us’ expend some of that surplus energy she still had pent up. He hid under the duvet and called her name. She looked around and then lay down low to peek through the gap under the cover and squealed when she found daddy. He pulled the cover over again and she totally found him by pulling the duvet right off his head. Then I tried it. I called her (from under the cover) and she fit her hand in and felt around. She grabbed my hair and giggled, then she felt my nose and thought it was just hilarious that mommy bits were under this grey mountain – then she pulled it right off. Fabulously fun. Object permanence, here I come, says Anya.

All this new learning and developing (new tooth, proto-crawling, increased manual dexterity and lots and lots of ever more complex talking) has meant Anya has been a bit ‘sticky’ recently, really wanting to be close or in arms all day and waking up a fair amount at night. But this is what babies need, love and support through the ‘tough’ times. Bless her.